Tower Hamlets 5-0 Waltham Forest

Three first-half goals from O’Neal Rowe, John Watson and Luke With and two second-half strikes from Curtis Pond and substitue Harry Wright sealed the three points for the hosts at Mile End Stadum.

The first chance of the game fell to Waltham Forest’s Bradley Harris who fired high over the bar after Olumide Lapite swung a corner in which was cleared out of the box to the left-back.

A minute later Tower Hamlets had a golden chance of their own when Curtis Pond hit a shot across the goal and just wide of the post after being put through on goal through a deflection off his team-mate Luke With

Waltham Forest got another chance when Vicente Belho had a dig from outside the box, but it was deflected over the bar for a corner by James Kenward in the fifthtenth minute.

The hosts’ Kane Wilson made a great run and was brought down on the edge of the box by Boris Kipeya which gave them a free-kick in the twenty third minute.

Luke With stepped up to take the free-kick and floated a cross into the box which was cleared straight to right-back O’Neal Rowe who drilled a shot into the bottom corner to give his side a 1-0 lead.

Seven minutes later the Mile End-based club extended their lead to 2-0 as a long ball over the top was flicked on by a Forest defender into the path of the surging Wilson who slotted it home from inside the box.

They kept piling on the pressure and it wasn’t long before With caught the Forest keeper Sam Haywood off guard as he brought down the ball and drilled a shot from the half way line, Haywood managed to get a finger on the ball but it trickled over the line to extend their lead to 3-0 in the thirty fifth minute.

Four minutes later and it could have been 4-0 as a long throw in from the left flank found Frankie Sinclair who hit the crossbar from close range.

The hosts didn’t ease up as they came out for the second-half and made it 4-0 in the first minute after the break when Curtis Pond headed home a cross from close range.

Forest tried piling on the pressure but Tower Hamlets held firm in the next ten minutes.

Ade Abayomi and AJ Ashanike’s men then held possession and tried to keep the ball away from the visitors, leaving neither side creating many chances.

Tower Hamlets pressed forward after bringing on some legs in the final fifthteen minutes in hope of netting a fifth but they couldn’t get in behind the Forest defence until the visitors nearly scored a consolation but had a shot cleared off the line a minute before the end.

The drama didn’t end there as Waltham’s right-back Kipeya let the ball run under his feet and the ball was smashed in at the back post by substitute Harry Wright to make it 5-0.